Torana-i-Pakistan

Torana-i-Pakistan
English: "Tarana of Pakistan"
তারানা-ই-পাকিস্তান
ترانۂ پاكستان

National anthem of East Pakistan
Also known asপাকিস্তান জিন্দাবাদ (English: "Long Live Pakistan")
LyricsGolam Mostofa, 1956
MusicNazir Ahmed, 1956
Adopted23 March 1956
Relinquished26 March 1971
Succeeded by"Amar Sonar Bangla"

"Torana-i-Pakistan", more popularly known as "Pakistan Zindabad", was an alternative national anthem sung by people of East Pakistan during its existence until liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. The song is in Bengali, the language of East Pakistan, and was adopted from a poem by an East Pakistani poet Golam Mostofa with the name of Tarana-i-Pakistan in 1956. It was composed by Nazir Ahmed. The song was sung during school assemblies in East Pakistan by school children.

The anthem, used as the national anthem of East-Pakistan in the 1950s and 1960s, has been completely erased from the archives of the Bangladesh Television and Radio archives by the Awami League Government post 1971. Only a part of the audio is available online right now.[1]